Wind
by Rae Logan
Summary: Nothing to do with TD series. Mephiles' encounter with a certain young rabbit melts his frozen soul.


Okay... so... here's just another one of those Mephiles sympathy fics. This one takes place after the ending of Next Gen, using that theory about how just because Iblis is erased... doesn't mean Mephiles is as well.

Enjoy... I think you might like it :D

Oh, and BTW... this was written a bit to "WIND" (Naruto's first ending theme from the Japanese version.). If you look up the song, you can fit a lot of this to it. :D

* * *

When the world had restored itself to its proper state, Mephiles the Dark realized an unsettling fact that filled him with such unease he had never once experienced before: Though Iblis' flame was gone, blown out a mere ten years ago, Mephiles had not been erased at all, like his brother had.

However… he was alone.

He took no time in realizing that he was no longer in Soleanna, a part of the world he was as used to as the dark and void like confines of the Scepter that had trapped and imprisoned him for a decade.

He was alone. By himself. In an unfamiliar area, surrounded by many things he did not know or know well.

All he could see all around him were trees after trees, seemingly forever stretching as far as he could see.

The day was not good in weather either, as gray clouds hung overhead, darkening the sky as the time passed. It seemed to be getting colder as well, something that reminded him too much of his first memories of life back at the laboratory of Soleanna.

As a chill slipped down his spine, he decided to try to find a place to hide when a few raindrops hit his face.

Blinking in confusion, having never encountered this before, he threw his hands up to shield his face and backed up under the shelter of a leafy tree.

Watching from his temporary safety place, he saw a few raindrops hit a rock, then roll off to the ground, staying there long enough for him to comprehend what had hit him.

"… Water..? F-from the sky..?" He looked up at the clouds overhead, frowning in perplexity as he saw the water droplets increase in numbers.

Not long after, the wind had picked up and his shelter no longer provided cover from the rain. Within minutes, he was drenched down to his skin; the air seeming like it was now even more frigid.

Shaking now from cold, the dark hedgehog eased himself to the ground cautiously as another gust of wind swept past him, causing his fur to stand on end.

Then for a moment, something caught his attention: he could see his breath in the air each time he breathed.

A swirling cloud of vapors that stayed before him before fading off into nothingness…

Oblivion…

Gone…

Until his next breath…

…

…

This fascinated him, and for a while, he distracted himself by watching the puff clouds to try to ignore the biting wind.

**KA-KOOM!**

Mephiles jumped and nearly screamed. Pressing his back to the trunk of the tree, he sat there on edge as it was heard again; this time a flash of light accompanied the sound.

It began to rain harder, and Mephiles was growing anxious.

He didn't know what to do for this, and he didn't think the tree was protecting him very much now…

Shuddering, he curled up on the ground, trying ward off the cold. For the first time he could remember, he missed being in the Scepter. At least in there, there was nothing surprising to him, nothing to startle him, and there were no cold temperatures. He was… as much as he hated to admit it… safe in there…

"… Must be the cold getting to me…" He muttered, nuzzling his cold nose between the slight warmth of his gloved hands, curling up even tighter as another gust of wind swept a rush of water on him.

Another crash and a flash of light… and Mephiles silently cried himself into unconsciousness…

* * *

When he woke up again, he realized he was not where he had been when he passed out.

There was a bed holding his tired body, and a heavy blanket had been laid across him. That's what he had first noticed.

He opened his eyes slowly and found that wherever he was… it was very pastel in color. The walls were a pale yellow, with floral pattern accents. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the soft pink floor when he had turned his head to the side slightly. To him, the frightening environment out the outdoors didn't seem so bad now… if it hadn't been so cold, that was.

He glanced out a window on the wall and saw that the rain had stopped falling, but it was much darker now.

_I wonder how long I was out. For that matter… where am I? _He thought to himself, still taking in the surroundings.

"Oh! I see you're awake now!" A voice squeaked from his right, causing him to flinch.

He turned his attention to the voice and saw a young, buff colored rabbit with orange markings and very large, floppy ears that hung down, smiling nervously at him as she stared at him with innocent, brown eyes. From the voice, dress and long eyelashes… he could easily guess the bunny was female.

By her side was a strange looking blue and yellow creature that hovered above the ground with help of a pair of small pink wings on its back. A yellow dot floated above its head, and Mephiles could also see it was wearing a red bowtie around its neck.

Mephiles could easily kill them if he wanted to, but his curiosity got the better of him, as well as he was still regaining the ability to move completely.

"… Who are you?" He said, trying to mask over his unease at being a little vulnerable at the moment.

"My name's Cream and this is my Chao, Cheese." She said, no hint of fear in her voice as she bowed, her ears flopping over her head as she did before she flung them back with a shake of the head. She obviously had no idea of how dangerous Mephiles was, and therefore did not fear him. "What were you doing outside? It gets very cold around this time of year, and most everyone hides inside when a storm comes."

"… Where am I?" He asked, not really intending on answering her question. She didn't seem to mind.

"You're at my mom's and my house. She found you outside, curled up under a tree on her way back from the store. She said you must have passed out from the cold, because you were shaking and freezing. So she brought you inside to take care of you." Cream said without taking a breath, and simply nodding, her Chao following suit. It seemed as though all the Chao could say was "Chao".

"… How long ago was that?"

"Three days, I think." She giggled. "You know… you look a lot like someone I know. Do you know a 'Mr. Shadow'? Are you his brother? What's your name?"

Immediately, Mephiles clenched his teeth together and growled at the sound of the name and her idea of a relation. Cream let out a little whimper and stepped back, her Chao jumping in front of her with a scowl.

"I'm sorry… was it something I said? Are you mad at him?"

"I do not like Shadow the Hedgehog, nor am I his brother. I am Mephiles the Dark. I am _not_ related to him. I hate him…"

"But you look a lot like him. Except his eyes, markings and shoes are red. Your eyes don't match your markings…" She added. "Why do you look like him?"

"I don't…"

"But…" She stopped when he narrowed his eyes and glared at her. She switched tactics. "How are you feeling? You were near frozen when Mom found you…"

Realizing that he had been helped, his eyes softened a bit from confusion as he sat up slowly and took time to check himself over.

He wasn't shaking anymore, and he could feel his hands and feet much better now. His tail was a bit numb still, but it still responded to his command to move it. His ears… he could feel them now! He thought he might have lost them back when he was outside, because he had lost the feeling in them both not long after he was drenched. More importantly, he wasn't cold.

"… Better." He wanted to keep his responses short with the girl. He didn't really feel like talking to her, considering he had just met her not even ten minutes ago.

"That's good. But, you didn't say why you were out there during the storm. Don't you have a home you live at?"

"Persistent… aren't you?"

"Per-what?" She didn't really know what he meant.

"Persistent… Relentless… Unremitting… Unalleviated…" He gave off a few words of the same meaning, only to see her become even more confused. He tried again. "… It means you don't give up."

"Oh. Well… I'm just curious. It was pretty dangerous to be out there like that, so I was just worried about you."

"How old are you?"

"Six."

"Years?"

"Uh huh…"

_She's really not that much younger than me… yet, she's so naïve…_ He thought to himself, scratching himself behind the ears as he closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that the girl hadn't left, and that she was still staring at him.

As much as he liked to stare… he realized _he_ didn't like being stared at. It made him a bit uncomfortable, and with such wide, innocent eyes like hers… he felt like she was looking right into his soul… if he had one, that is… he wasn't quite sure if he did…

And coupled with the stare of the Chao… he began to feel like he wanted to disappear and hide under a rock or something until they were gone and out of his sight. It was making him very uneasy…

He frowned and looked away, catching sight on a stuffed bear on a shelf and a couple of trinket boxes. Several toys were on the floor as well. Taking a guess from the appearance of the room… he figured he must have been recovering in the girl's bedroom. That could explain her reluctance to leave.

"Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"

"… I don't like to be stared at…" He said coolly, his ears flipping back and folding against his head to help emphasize his point.

"Oh… I'm sorry…"

There was a long silence before his ears picked up the sounds of something lightly scratching something as the girl was humming. He turned his attention back to the rabbit to find her sitting on the floor, spreading color from something onto a colorless picture. She was taking care as to not spread it outside the image's lines, and was picking numerous colors after another from a box.

Sometime passed before she looked up to see him staring at her.

"… What are you doing?" He asked, interested in the rabbit's activity. He had never seen anything like that, and was, naturally, curious.

"Coloring. Do you want to try?"

Before he could answer, she had already set the book of pictures on his lap, and set a color in his hand.

At first, he considered just snapping the thin stick with one hand and throwing the pieces aside… but, if the girl already had a high pitched voice, he didn't dare to imagine how she would sound like in tears. Reluctantly, he scribbled some blue into the picture, coloring the sky. He decided to leave some spots uncolored for two reasons: 1) to add clouds and 2) because he wasn't really into doing this. He alternated with colors to complete the picture.

Whatever the result was, she seemed very pleased with it. She smiled and giggled before she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.

Mephiles had never encountered something like this before, and immediately, his body tensed and he tried to squirm out of her embrace.

She saw his troubled reaction and quickly let go, an apologizing expression on her face.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know you didn't like hugs…"

Something had taken over Mephiles during the time the girl had her arms around him. Something he didn't understand, though it felt like it had melted something frozen within. Then, a new and somewhat daunting feeling came over him, gripping at his chest and making him shudder as he took a breath to calm himself.

He suddenly felt sorry for what he had done. For what he had caused. For whom he had hurt and tried to hurt. For _every_thing he had done…

"Mr. Mephiles?" Cream asked cautiously when she saw him shaking again. "Are you okay?"

He did not raise his lowered head, and he simply stared at his hands, remembering how they had been claw like not too long ago… when he had transformed into a crystalline beast of a hedgehog… when he tried to kill Shadow… when he…

Without a word, he closed his bright green eyes slowly and tears rolled down his pale furred face, spattering onto his gloves, his body quaking as he cried to himself silently.

_I'm so sorry…_

* * *

Most of my reason for this fic was my version of how Mephiles would meet Cream. Since she seems to have a talent for making even baddies turn into softies, I thought I should have her try her hand with Mephiles.

I guess even Mephiles can't resist kindness from a six year old :D

Hop you liked this.


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